The present invention relates to flexible packaging bags for containing and dispensing articles, More particularly, the present invention relates to a flexible packaging bag having an easy-open end seal feature that permits the bag to be easily opened at a seal for dispensing the articles therefrom.
Packaging bags composed of flexible polymer materials have been used for packaging various types of articles, such as infant diapers, child training pants, absorbent pants, feminine care products, and adult incontinence garments. These bags allow packaging of the articles to create a carton-like look and a configuration facilitating transportation and display on retail shelves. The bags may include handles to facilitate the carrying of the bags, and include mechanisms for providing an access opening in the bag.
For those bags made of a flexible polymer material, the opening mechanism can prove to be difficult to operate manually, i.e., to tear open easily with the hands, and particularly difficult when it traverses or intersects a seal formed from the polymer material. These seals typically are formed by ultrasonic bonding, heat bonding, or the like, in order to melt the polymer materials together. These seals are relatively very hard and stiff in nature compared to unjoined polymer material. In those instances where the opening some users manually to operate the opening mechanism where it crosses the seal. In other words, the user cannot, or has a difficult time, in separating the seal where it meets the opening mechanism.
There can be numerous reasons for the intersection of the opening mechanism with a seal. One of these reasons is when the manufacturing and packaging, i.e., filling, of the bag with articles requires the articles to be inserted in a particular manner or direction in order to provide a desired orientation of the articles relative to the bag. Another reason is when the articles are inserted through an opening in the bag that will eventually be closed and sealed to form a top wall or top panel and it is desired that the articles be accessed and removed through that top wall or panel.
Other problems occur if the size of the opening is too large. This can result in the bag no longer functioning as a means to desirably store and transport the articles. For example, if the opening is too large, the flexible polymer bag can begin to collapse and lose its form or shape after a number of articles have been removed.
Conversely, if the bag opening is too small, the articles cannot be easily dispensed through the opening due, in part, by the compressive forces exerted against the articles that keeps them tightly packed together. Consequently, if only a small portion of an article is available to the user to grasp and pull from the bag through the opening, the user will have difficulty in removing an article and in some instances may not be able to do so at all.